How difficult is it to sell a SaaS product to UK education providers

[rsshep]

Totally understand what you are trying the achieve. But as I said the app and all its features are irrelevant.

It’s marketing that matters. Good salespeople can sell junk. They convince people to buy things they just don’t need and will often never use.

You need to be that person. You need to be a salesperson and convince clients they really need your app. Nobody cares about you or you ideas. All they care about is WIIFM.

All of which means you need to start knocking on doors, spend on advertising and show people how it can transform their workplace.

Better still, show how it integrates with their existing HR application.

Absolutely 100% agree.

I've put together marketing plan. I have some idea of my next steps (improving every day). My next step is, as you say, to get out there, start engaging with people, drum up interested and get people using the tool. Success from that point is going to depend on how well I sell it, or who I build relationships with along the way.

 

[NickGrogan]

I'm reminded of a David Ogivly quote.

"People don't think what they feel, don't say what they think and don't do what they say"

If you can track the responses to specific teams, how can the data be anonymous?

It'll probably sell well to HR teams once you stop focusing on the tech and start focusing on the marketing.

Add some kind of pointless AI function, and it will be much more sellable.

 

[rsshep]

I'm reminded of a David Ogivly quote.

"People don't think what they feel, don't say what they think and don't do what they say"

If you can track the responses to specific teams, how can the data be anonymous?

It'll probably sell well to HR teams once you stop focusing on the tech and start focusing on the marketing.

Add some kind of pointless AI function, and it will be much more sellable.

Unless you've only got one person in your team, then you can't track it to an individual. You do raise a good point though, and that's something I need to get feedback on from users.

I realise that focusing on the tech won't sell the solution, hence why the website copy I've been working on focuses on the features and the benefits they bring.

I've already implemented some AI functionality, with more to come. I wouldn't say it's pointless though, as AI can be really useful.

 

[NickGrogan]

Unless you've only got one person in your team, then you can't track it to an individual. You do raise a good point though, and that's something I need to get feedback on from users.

I realise that focusing on the tech won't sell the solution, hence why the website copy I've been working on focuses on the features and the benefits they bring.

I've already implemented some AI functionality, with more to come. I wouldn't say it's pointless though, as AI can be really useful.

Playing devil's advocate...

Your system knows about teams, and which results apply to each team, ie it knows the team members, so its not anonymous. Otherwise how does it know to send the sales link to me and the marketing link to Bob?

You have a team of five people and your system gets 6 results back, I presume it will tag some sort of error? So the system knows something about team size. Not anonymous.

What is stopping someone in the team from clicking on the happy link 5 times? Maybe a manager looking to game the system. Will this trigger an error, something like thanks for voting, but you did already? Not anonymous.

Lots of companies add tracking pixels and dynamic links to emails automatically - not anonymous (and you might not even know about this)

Assuming the links are on some kind of website, either internal or external, then there will be analytics or at least server logs. With staff working from home, it's not hard to work out that Bob in Croydon is the one who keeps clicking. On an intranet, they will know the IP of every PC. Not anonymous

The smiley faces in Currys are anonymous, so you see kids banging away at the happy face repeatedly.

I don't know how important being anonymous is, especially as most people, like me, won't believe that it's anonymous anyway.

 

[rsshep]

Playing devil's advocate...

Your system knows about teams, and which results apply to each team, ie it knows the team members, so its not anonymous. Otherwise how does it know to send the sales link to me and the marketing link to Bob?

You have a team of five people and your system gets 6 results back, I presume it will tag some sort of error? So the system knows something about team size. Not anonymous.

What is stopping someone in the team from clicking on the happy link 5 times? Maybe a manager looking to game the system. Will this trigger an error, something like thanks for voting, but you did already? Not anonymous.

Lots of companies add tracking pixels and dynamic links to emails automatically - not anonymous (and you might not even know about this)

Assuming the links are on some kind of website, either internal or external, then there will be analytics or at least server logs. With staff working from home, it's not hard to work out that Bob in Croydon is the one who keeps clicking. On an intranet, they will know the IP of every PC. Not anonymous

The smiley faces in Currys are anonymous, so you see kids banging away at the happy face repeatedly.

I don't know how important being anonymous is, especially as most people, like me, won't believe that it's anonymous anyway.

You raise some good points.

When I talk about anonymous, this is purely that mood data CANNOT be traced back to the individual employee. It can be traced to a team, but NEVER to an individual employee, regardless of IP address, email pixels etc.

The system knows it needs to send Dave in Accounts a mood email, but it will never know it was Dave that selected he was 'Unhappy'.

 

[fisicx]

Unless Dave is known to be unhappy and click the unhappy button every week.

Also, you aren’t going to sell the product via the website. You will need warm leads which means the website becomes affirmation.

And you will need to have quantitive examples of the benefits. For example, ‘after 6 month the profits increased by 23% and productivity costs reduced by 18%’.

 

[rsshep]

Unless Dave is known to be unhappy and click the unhappy button every week.

Also, you aren’t going to sell the product via the website. You will need warm leads which means the website becomes affirmation.

And you will need to have quantitive examples of the benefits. For example, ‘after 6 month the profits increased by 23% and productivity costs reduced by 18%’.

Clicking the same button each week wouldn't work, the URL for each mood is different each time to avoid IT departments tracking it that way.

I agree, a website on it's own isn't going to make sales. I've told clients for years that if you build a website/application, you can't simply submit it to Google/App Stores and expect the money to start rolling in.

The website copy I'm working has quantitive examples taken from research that's been done in this area (i.e. happy employees are 12% more productive). This will be followed up with testimonials and real-life case studies once I have some.

Nick above has highlighted a critical issue though, that no matter how anonymous the tool is, I need to communicate that with the people using it, and explain the measures taken to ensure that the information remains anonymous. While I'm confident that I've already put a good amount of effort into making the information anonymous, I'm aware of more than can be done that I'll be working on soon.

 

[fisicx]

Clicking the same button each week wouldn't work, the URL for each mood is different each time to avoid IT departments tracking it that way.

But you said you can drill down to teams. Which mean if one person in the team is unhappy every week and you know that Dave is always complaining it’s easy to connect the two. It’s no longer anonymous.

 

[rsshep]

But you said you can drill down to teams. Which mean if one person in the team is unhappy every week and you know that Dave is always complaining it’s easy to connect the two. It’s no longer anonymous.

You're both highlighting how critical its going to be to communicate to people the measures that have been taken to project employee identity, along with explaining the measures that employers could take in order to attempt to track mood. Very very few things in life are completely anonymous, so how I word this is going to take some consideration.

To answer your point about drilling down into teams. Yes, you can do that, but there's a minimum team size and a disclaimer visible to employees that belong to smaller teams that's highlights that whilst we've taken measures to hide their identity being part of a smaller team can increase the likely hood of the employer figuring out how provided feedback.

Our terms and conditions etc will set out rules around employers trying using measure to circumvent the protection we've tried to put in place, and various laws should at least warn off employers from trying to it. I'm not saying they wouldn't try it, but it wouldn't be ethical and from my understanding they wouldn't have any legal justification to put in place measures to specifically link mood feedback to individuals.

So all in all, yes, you are correct, the feedback is not 100% anonymous, there would be ways around it that would require a some amount of effort to do, but in those cases all we can do is inform the user of what is possible and the measures we're taking to make sure feedback is kept as anonymous as possible.

Maybe anonymous isn't the best word. Feedback is anonymised and not made available to the employer, which would be true.

I'll think about this further.

 

[rsshep]

I'll try and explain the measures we're taking to protect feedback.

Obviously the tool has a list of employees, their team and email address.

When an email is sent to the employee, we create a unique Id and store it in the database along with the employees team. An email is sent to the employee which refers back to that unique Id and not the employee. This unique Id is never made available to the employer via the tool.

The mood email contains a link for each mood, which is unique to that person along with the mood itself being obfuscated and different for each email. This means that the URL doesn't identify the employee, nor does it identify their mood selection. If you were to reference that Id against our database, you wouldn't be able to link that Id to an employee.

Some organisations have the means to replace links in inbound emails so that they can track links for security/scanning purposes. In this instance, should the organisation want to do, they could, with some effort identify a clicked link by a given employee, but the URL alone wouldn't identify the mood selection. If however, they collect the link text, then they could identify the mood selection. This would take a conscious effort by the organisation to do this, and would be unethical. I'm also unsure how an organisation would justify that based on GDPR, ICO guidelines and Employment Law, should they be found doing it. Tracking and recording the information for security purposes etc is one thing, but then purposefully using that to identify mood selection is another. Some organisations wouldn't give a stuff though, and I acknowledge it's possible.

The combat the above point, each email contains another link that allows the employee to select their mood via a web interface. Again, no identifiable information in the URL, and the page is protected by SSL and other encryption to prevent IT logs from picking up mood information. When employees are added to the tool, they receive a welcome email, in this welcome email there is going to be an option to select your mood tracking preference (email, web) so you'll receive mood emails based on that preference (mood links in email / single link to web interface).

The web portal provides no ability to link mood feedback with individuals. We don't provide that at all. I don't even think I'd be able to track individual feedback to an employee as I have to means to identify sent emails via that Id, as the email provider we're using doesn't provide us with that level of filtering. Although, it wouldn't be impossible, just very very difficult.

We have a minimum team size to prevent organisations trying to create really small teams with the purpose of trying to identify mood selection, along with highlighting to the employee in the mood email that they are part of a small team which increases the risk that the employee could identify them should they really want to. We also have other measures here that I can't disclose that provide additional protection here.

Terms and conditions will outline that organisations shouldn't make an attempt to identify individuals employees via their feedback.

Based on that, all we can do is publish details about the lengths we go to in order to anonymise feedback, and highlight the potential risks. The ways in which an organisation could trying to link feedback to employees would require some upfront planning, and clear intention of doing it before-hand.

Just like those anonymous feedback machines in stores that are anonymous. If a business really wanted to see who gave negative feedback, you could links timestamps to CCTV footage, but you'd have to put some conscious effort in to do so.

 

[fisicx]

All way too complicated. The fact you needed write the long explanation demonstrates the struggle you will have convincing potential clients that this is a good idea.

And then there is the whole saas thing. For many companies they will prefer integration with existing applications or the whole things brought in house.

You are trying too hard to sell something for which there is little apparent benefit compared to the mistrust employees will have.

 

[rsshep]

All way too complicated. The fact you needed write the long explanation demonstrates the struggle you will have convincing potential clients that this is a good idea.

And then there is the whole saas thing. For many companies they will prefer integration with existing applications or the whole things brought in house.

You are trying too hard to sell something for which there is little apparent benefit compared to the mistrust employees will have.

In that case, based on your opinion it's a dead in the water idea? I should stop do what I'm doing because a handful of people on an internet forum don't think it'll work.

Whilst I appreciate the feedback and acknowledge your concerns, I don't agree. I've seen it time and time again where I've dismissed an idea myself, only for someone to make it work based on where they wanted it to go.

 

[fisicx]

Not at all. I just think it’s a very hard sell as a standalone product. Integration into existing HR applications would make marketing a lot simpler.

 

[NickGrogan]

Thanks for the long explanation. As has been mentioned, if it takes this long to explain, it's probably going to be an issue.

Also, it's not anonymous. You've replaced names with a unique ID. That's not anonymous. Somewhere, there is a nice, simple database that links all the names and IDs, and IDs are linked to a team.

The web portal provides no ability to link mood feedback with individuals.

The web portal is accessible via a unique link sent to the person, this is highly identifiable. The portal must know the ID of the person clicking on the page, to allow the data to be added relevant team, if it was actually anonymous then you couldn't link it to a team. The fact that you think this would be hard is slightly worrying, perhaps you've underestimated the ways around things.

Back to Currys, they could go through the CCTV footage, but all that would tell them is that the boy with the green jumper hit it 10 times. If the parents don't buy anything or pay cash, they have no way of knowing who the boy is. You could possibly track him to the car park, see what car he gets into, and get the owner's name from the licence plate, but even that won't be 100% accurate.

 

[rsshep]

Not at all. I just think it’s a very hard sell as a standalone product. Integration into existing HR applications would make marketing a lot simpler.

I agree.

I have to start somewhere though, and through feedback I'd hope to find what integrations customers want.

What the app does today, may not be what it does in 6 months time.

 

[rsshep]

Thanks for the long explanation. As has been mentioned, if it takes this long to explain, it's probably going to be an issue.

Also, it's not anonymous. You've replaced names with a unique ID. That's not anonymous. Somewhere, there is a nice, simple database that links all the names and IDs, and IDs are linked to a team.

The web portal is accessible via a unique link sent to the person, this is highly identifiable. The portal must know the ID of the person clicking on the page, to allow the data to be added relevant team, if it was actually anonymous then you couldn't link it to a team. The fact that you think this would be hard is slightly worrying, perhaps you've underestimated the ways around things.

The portal doesn't know what person clicked the link. It only knows that someone in the sales department clicked the link. If you were to look at the data in the database, there's no way you could identify which users selected which mood.

But yes, you are right, it's not 100% anonymous (and I'll need to reword that) because your team is recorded.

Maybe I just remove teams completely, but then I need to weigh up what's more important to users, being slightly more anonymous, or insights by team. Food for thought.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Add some kind of pointless AI function, and it will be much more sellable.

The winning statement!

The fact you needed write the long explanation demonstrates the struggle you will have convincing potential clients that this is a good idea

This is one of several issues that we see a lot now, where the techies try to sell a product based on techie things.

Again, sell the sizzle, not the sausage!

 

[rsshep]

The winning statement!


This is one of several issues that we see a lot now, where the techies try to sell a product based on techie things.

Again, sell the sizzle, not the sausage!

You're absolutely right. Unless you're offering something to a very technical market, no one cares about the technical side of things.

99% of the time clients don't care what goes on behind the scenes, all they care about is, does it solve their problem (I've done some business analysis and requirements gathering on other projects).

Sadly, the way I've expressed some of my communication on here hasn't reflected how I'd present it to potential customers. In my mind I've segregated my customers and this place into two separate audiences and communicated to them individually. I'm not saying I've done that well btw, I clearly have not.

My ideas, the app, my website copy are evolving each day the more feedback I'm getting. The current iteration of my website copy doesn't have a single reference to the technology used.

I'm not at a point where I'm ready to share the website just yet, as it's still very much a work in progress, as is everything about the app (and I'm aware you can't ask for website reviews without paying), but here's an example of some of the things it's highlighting at the moment;

- Uncover hidden insights into employee mood
- reduce turnover by up to 20%
- increase ROI and profit
- happy employees are 12% more productive
- potential savings of £2,000 per employee annually

I also have a savings calculator that shows potential savings based on number of staff and current staff turnover rates, and shows workings out based on % improvement in productivity and % reduction in staff turnover and explains how we got to those figures.

I'm by no means saying I know 100% what I'm doing, or that there's not improvements to be made. Just trying to highlight that I'm not approaching this from what you might call a 'typical techie' mindset. I've worked alongside marketing agencies for almost 20 years now, and you pick up a thing or two. However, knowing the theory and applying it are two different things I'm still learning.

I'm not standing still either. This isn't a case of me treating the project I've built like a baby and ignoring the feedback that others have been generous enough to provide. The feedback I've received on here, and via other sources is constantly forcing me to evaluate the app, it's features, the target market, the message.... everything.

While I've moaned that some of the feedback on here has been negative at times, those same people have also provided some excellent feedback and valid concerns that I'm not ignoring. The point I'm making, and hopefully it's helpful to others that might read this is, people are going to give you feedback that you might not agree with, but do not dismiss it, look into it, question it, why don't you agree with it, can you work around it, how valid it is. Unless you're building something to solve your own problems, you've got to listen to what people are saying.

 

[Paul FilmMaker]

I agree.

I have to start somewhere though, and through feedback I'd hope to find what integrations customers want.

What the app does today, may not be what it does in 6 months time.

Maybe. I would challenge this. If you repackaged this as a comps & bens or wellness solution with great business benefits, you could then sell it through a whole bunch of comps & bens and wellness consultancies. It would speed up your sales because these providers are already selling into your target market.

They'd have a ready-made customer base with the appetite and budget to buy your tool.

And if it was packaged in this way, it would appeal more to certain HR teams looking for ways to make HR more valuable to the business as a whole. So you'd have champions inside organisations which would be invaluable in the sales process.

Also, having worked in HR teams, my 'feel' for the anonymity element is a little different. E.g. One company which is funnily enough, a customer of mine (I'm video production these days), has an extremely proactive mental health wellness solution in place to the point that employees talk about using it on camera. The employees choose whether to be anonymous and some of them choose to be very public.

 

[rsshep]

Maybe. I would challenge this. If you repackaged this as a comps & bens or wellness solution with great business benefits, you could then sell it through a whole bunch of comps & bens and wellness consultancies. It would speed up your sales because these providers are already selling into your target market.

They'd have a ready-made customer base with the appetite and budget to buy your tool.

And if it was packaged in this way, it would appeal more to certain HR teams looking for ways to make HR more valuable to the business as a whole. So you'd have champions inside organisations which would be invaluable in the sales process.

Also, having worked in HR teams, my 'feel' for the anonymity element is a little different. E.g. One company which is funnily enough, a customer of mine (I'm video production these days), has an extremely proactive mental health wellness solution in place to the point that employees talk about using it on camera. The employees choose whether to be anonymous and some of them choose to be very public.

Thank you, a contrasting response.

My wife works in leadership and management, she's one of those people that really cares about wellbeing and about people. She understand that business have objectives, but at the same time she gets that people on her teams her humans. When I first pitched this idea to her, she thought it was brilliant! It wasn't bias because she's my wife, she's wouldn't think twice about hurting my feelings.

Her view is that, she's starting to see a shift in how organisations view well-being, even if they're just doing something to tell people on social media/job vacancies etc that they care. The benefits they get from telling people about it appear to be outweighing the costs and helps them attract new talent. It's like owning a 20 year old BMW, when people ask what you drive, it's a BMW, age doesn't matter.

Your comment about making it more about wellness is a very good one, more food for thought.

I've received some outstanding negative feedback though, I mean, really really good feedback that I can use to refine the product offering and target market.

 

[rsshep]

I'm contemplating positioning it as an entry-level gateway to employee well-being for businesses with 50-150 staff that have yet to explore this area. As a low-cost, SaaS product, that serves as an accessible starting point. The solution could grow with these businesses or provide them a foundational understanding to transition to more comprehensive products as they refine their well-being strategies (the former being preferred to the later).

 

[Paul FilmMaker]

Thank you, a contrasting response.

My wife works in leadership and management, she's one of those people that really cares about wellbeing and about people. She understand that business have objectives, but at the same time she gets that people on her teams her humans. When I first pitched this idea to her, she thought it was brilliant! It wasn't bias because she's my wife, she's wouldn't think twice about hurting my feelings.

Her view is that, she's starting to see a shift in how organisations view well-being, even if they're just doing something to tell people on social media/job vacancies etc that they care. The benefits they get from telling people about it appear to be outweighing the costs and helps them attract new talent. It's like owning a 20 year old BMW, when people ask what you drive, it's a BMW, age doesn't matter.

Your comment about making it more about wellness is a very good one, more food for thought.

I've received some outstanding negative feedback though, I mean, really really good feedback that I can use to refine the product offering and target market.

It's a contrasting response because I was management within an HR team in a multi-billion dollar company. So I know what wellness tools HR buys, how they buy them, been part of that process and yes, there is definitely a drive for more wellness solutions with a positive impact on productivity. So I've seen this type of tool before, know there's a market but also think you need to do some re-positioning to fit what customers want.

If you want to talk to a real expert who actually bought these solutions, I am happy to introduce you to someone. She was the EMEA comps / bens and wellness director. We used to sit next to each other and I personally hired her. She now has a consultancy selling wellness solutions and in a couple of weeks will be addressing a conference of several hundred wellness people, recommending they buy a comps / bens / wellness solution!

She can help you with a huge steer and get you in the right direction.

And I don't do that stuff anymore, by the way! I created a video production agency doing video to help businesses sell more. So funnily enough, I should be filming those comps and bens people making recommendations!

 

[rsshep]

It's a contrasting response because I was management within an HR team in a multi-billion dollar company. So I know what wellness tools HR buys, how they buy them, been part of that process and yes, there is definitely a drive for more wellness solutions with a positive impact on productivity. So I've seen this type of tool before, know there's a market but also think you need to do some re-positioning to fit what customers want.

If you want to talk to a real expert who actually bought these solutions, I am happy to introduce you to someone. She was the EMEA comps / bens and wellness director. We used to sit next to each other and I personally hired her. She now has a consultancy selling wellness solutions and in a couple of weeks will be addressing a conference of several hundred wellness people, recommending they buy a comps / bens / wellness solution!

She can help you with a huge steer and get you in the right direction.

And I don't do that stuff anymore, by the way! I created a video production agency doing video to help businesses sell more. So funnily enough, I should be filming those comps and bens people making recommendations!

Thanks Paul,

At this point, I'll take any help and guidance I can take. I'm at a point in the road where I having a fully working product, but still have the flexibility to reposition it.

 

[NickGrogan]

- Uncover hidden insights into employee mood
- reduce turnover by up to 20%
- increase ROI and profit
- happy employees are 12% more productive
- potential savings of £2,000 per employee annually

These are some big and fairly specific claims. They're also untrue, creating issues when trying to sell things.

reducing staff turnover by up to 20% - what does this mean? When I worked as a civil servant staff turnover was very low, who wants to leave a easy government job? reducing staff turnover would be very difficult and any happiness app is unlikely to make a dent into it. I've also run telesales teams, the staff turnover was about 400% per year - reducing it by 20% is meaningless.

increase ROI and profit - fairly vague, so OK.

Happy employees are 12% more productive - everyone's favourite stat, but is it true? Not really.

Sad but true – miserable workers are more productive - HRZone

In the regular FTdynamo column this week, we learn that contrary to popular opinion it's not the happy workers who are most productive, but the unhappy ones. We all may have thought for many years that happy workers are the best workers. Sad to say, recent research appears to suggest the...

hrzone.com

Sounds like BT had your app in 2019

Happy workers are 13% more productive | University of Oxford

Research by Oxford University's Saïd Business School, in collaboration with British multinational telecoms firm BT, has found a conclusive link between happiness and productivity.

www.ox.ac.uk

I just read the whole study, its actually quite interesting, mainly because the conclusion they've reached is based a faulty premise.

They've shown that good weather improves mood which can improve productivity - no issues with this, everyone's great grandfather knew this, this is not a discovery.

They've also shown that people who sound happy sell more - again, not news. Thats why lots of boiler room type sales operations, where staff are generally very unhappy, make them stand up when calling and smile all the time. It works, but they're certainly not happy.


They've then said good weather is the same as good management or good policy making, which is frankly rubbish, and where it all falls down.

Potential savings of £2000 - from where? If staff turnover is already low, then where do the savings come from? If staff turnover is really high, it's because it doesn't cost £2k per employee.


In short, make the claims less specific and target them at the larger clients, who will want something like this to tie in with their CSR, DEI, and whatever other acronyms they're chasing.

Don't try to sell it on facts or tech.

 

[rsshep]

Quick Update.

I've gathered feedback and repositioned the app accordingly.

Instead of tracking employee mood, the app now measures the impact of the workplace on employee wellbeing. It provides organisations with insights into overall organisational wellbeing and identifies both workplace and personal factors contributing to it, enabling targeted interventions.

Based on employee feedback, organisations receive an Impact Score that quickly indicates whether the workplace has a positive or negative effect on employee wellbeing. This score can be analysed monthly to identify trends. Soon, organisations will be able to compare their Impact Score with other businesses to see if they are above or below average.

I've also had some investment enquiries from people that believe in the idea.

 

[Paul FilmMaker]

Quick Update.

I've gathered feedback and repositioned the app accordingly.

Instead of tracking employee mood, the app now measures the impact of the workplace on employee wellbeing. It provides organisations with insights into overall organisational wellbeing and identifies both workplace and personal factors contributing to it, enabling targeted interventions.

Based on employee feedback, organisations receive an Impact Score that quickly indicates whether the workplace has a positive or negative effect on employee wellbeing. This score can be analysed monthly to identify trends. Soon, organisations will be able to compare their Impact Score with other businesses to see if they are above or below average.

I've also had some investment enquiries from people that believe in the idea.

Solutions like this exist and there's a market for them in my experience and know people who buy them. (My previous life).

What do you mean by an 'intervention?' I know that's probably not the perfect choice of word but I'd be interested in seeing what this idea means.

 

[fisicx]

As you sure companies will want to share and compare?

 

[rsshep]

Solutions like this exist and there's a market for them in my experience and know people who buy them. (My previous life).

What do you mean by an 'intervention?' I know that's probably not the perfect choice of word but I'd be interested in seeing what this idea means.

The app delivers regular wellbeing feedback that organisations can use to identify potential issues early and take action (intervene) to prevent them from escalating. This proactive approach helps avoid significant problems, such as staff turnover and declining productivity.

For instance, a healthcare organisation may find through wellbeing tracking that employees felt unsupported and disconnected from management. Using the insights from the app, they may choose to introduce regular check-ins, created a peer support network, and provided training for managers on effective communication.

Currently, it's up to each organisation to decide how to address any identified issues. However, I aim to introduce a feature similar to those used by credit agencies, which would provide straightforward guidance on how to improve their impact score based on the feedback gathered.

 

[rsshep]

As you sure companies will want to share and compare?

Organisations will not have access to the individual impact scores of other organisations. The idea is that an organisation can compare itself to either an overall average or an industry average (yet to be decided). This allows organisations to evaluate their performance relative to others. For example, a sales organisation might have what appears to be a low impact score. However, when compared to the industry average, this score might actually be favourable.

 

[fisicx]

Organisations will not have access to the individual impact scores of other organisations. The idea is that an organisation can compare itself to either an overall average or an industry average (yet to be decided). This allows organisations to evaluate their performance relative to others. For example, a sales organisation might have what appears to be a low impact score. However, when compared to the industry average, this score might actually be favourable.

OK. But there needs to be context. Sales of houses isn't the same as sales of socks. Selling houses might score well because of commission but the sock sellers be really fed up (because it's socks).

Which means you may want to be quite granular in your comparisons.

 

[rsshep]

OK. But there needs to be context. Sales of houses isn't the same as sales of socks. Selling houses might score well because of commission but the sock sellers be really fed up (because it's socks).

Which means you may want to be quite granular in your comparisons.

Whilst I agree with what you're saying, that would require the tool to have enough data on organisations within very specific industries and likely require a very high number of organisations using the tool to make that accurate.

Initially, you'll be able to compare your score to an average of all organisations using the tool. Once there's a reasonable number of organisations using it, we'll switch to comparing against an industry average. We're a long way from going more granular than that.

 

[Paul FilmMaker]

The app delivers regular wellbeing feedback that organisations can use to identify potential issues early and take action (intervene) to prevent them from escalating. This proactive approach helps avoid significant problems, such as staff turnover and declining productivity.

For instance, a healthcare organisation may find through wellbeing tracking that employees felt unsupported and disconnected from management. Using the insights from the app, they may choose to introduce regular check-ins, created a peer support network, and provided training for managers on effective communication.

Currently, it's up to each organisation to decide how to address any identified issues. However, I aim to introduce a feature similar to those used by credit agencies, which would provide straightforward guidance on how to improve their impact score based on the feedback gathered.

I'm assuming you're going to phrase 'straightforward guidance' a little differently. In my experience, those two words are a gigantic red flag that will lose you all credibility and the sale because HR depts see things differently.

Instead of 'straightforward guidance,' I'd talk about actionable ideas, guidance, frameworks etc... HR departments love that kind of stuff because they can set up projects, implement them and look good.

But straightforward guidance... No. Partly because you also haven't seen all the things out there.

I'll give you an example. One of my customers implemented a servant-master cultural change which solved 95% of their management / workforce challenges and made the environment fantastic to work in. They stopped being short-staffed, solved their turnover issues. So imagine seven factories and the people on the shop floor telling management what to do. Literally giving them instructions. Management come down to the factory floor every day, without exception, for one hour and work with and for the shopworkers on the shop floor. It might be sweeping up, packing stuff in boxes, quality control etc...

In addition, they doubled productivity using this cultural shift.

Implementing it took 4 years because while it sounds simple, it's phenomenally complex to make it work in reality. And this cultural shift means manufacturing changes.

Telling an HR department 'straightforward guidance,' will lose you the sale in any sophisticated HR dept. Solutions are complex and there are all kinds of factors involved. However, phrasing it as simple, actionable suggestions, guidance and frameworks they can take and implement - that's the winner, right there.

And if you want to meet for a coffee, let me know. Happy to chat and give you the benefit of 20+ years experience in and around this area including buying the type of solution you're suggesting.

 

[fisicx]

Good advice Paul.

People don't want the employee survey (unless it's to just tick a box). What they want is suggestions on how to improve things. Which suggests this tool could be better used by a change management team rather than a standalone survey.

 

[rsshep]

I'm assuming you're going to phrase 'straightforward guidance' a little differently. In my experience, those two words are a gigantic red flag that will lose you all credibility and the sale because HR depts see things differently.

Instead of 'straightforward guidance,' I'd talk about actionable ideas, guidance, frameworks etc... HR departments love that kind of stuff because they can set up projects, implement them and look good.

But straightforward guidance... No. Partly because you also haven't seen all the things out there.

I'll give you an example. One of my customers implemented a servant-master cultural change which solved 95% of their management / workforce challenges and made the environment fantastic to work in. They stopped being short-staffed, solved their turnover issues. So imagine seven factories and the people on the shop floor telling management what to do. Literally giving them instructions. Management come down to the factory floor every day, without exception, for one hour and work with and for the shopworkers on the shop floor. It might be sweeping up, packing stuff in boxes, quality control etc...

In addition, they doubled productivity using this cultural shift.

Implementing it took 4 years because while it sounds simple, it's phenomenally complex to make it work in reality. And this cultural shift means manufacturing changes.

Telling an HR department 'straightforward guidance,' will lose you the sale in any sophisticated HR dept. Solutions are complex and there are all kinds of factors involved. However, phrasing it as simple, actionable suggestions, guidance and frameworks they can take and implement - that's the winner, right there.

And if you want to meet for a coffee, let me know. Happy to chat and give you the benefit of 20+ years experience in and around this area including buying the type of solution you're suggesting.

Thanks Paul, you're absolutely right. I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Paul FilmMaker]

Thanks Paul, you're absolutely right. I'll keep that in mind.

And good luck. I had a quick glance at the site. One thing that really jumps out is the site eventually needs to scream that you care about this stuff. It looks more like a site selling a solution than caring about wellness.

So just an idea among others (creating a funnel etc...)

If you're in the vicinity of London, let me know. I know, for example, a bens director at an SME who buys this kind of stuff so if she's available, she'd give you some incredible insight. If she's around, she'd help you position your proposition for the larger SMEs. Or it would give me something else to send to customers / do a Linkedin post about etc... And I'm always happy to chat if I can offer some help. Especially if you're buying the coffee!

 

[IanSuth]

I have just seen a LinkedIn poll which was about these kind of apps - the no1 thing HR cared about above customisation, integration and ease of use was "Accuracy" at over 50% so that looks to be the angle to push

 

[rsshep]

And good luck. I had a quick glance at the site. One thing that really jumps out is the site eventually needs to scream that you care about this stuff. It looks more like a site selling a solution than caring about wellness.

So just an idea among others (creating a funnel etc...)

If you're in the vicinity of London, let me know. I know, for example, a bens director at an SME who buys this kind of stuff so if she's available, she'd give you some incredible insight. If she's around, she'd help you position your proposition for the larger SMEs. Or it would give me something else to send to customers / do a Linkedin post about etc... And I'm always happy to chat if I can offer some help. Especially if you're buying the coffee!

Thanks Paul.

I'll revisit the content a little.

Sadly I'm practically at the other end of the country, but it certainly might be good to have a virtual chat sometime.

 

[annabelleme]

I've recently developed a SaaS solution designed to empower organisations by enabling anonymous tracking of employee moods, offering insights into mood trends and underlying causes over time. The goal is to help organisations identify well-being issues early, enabling timely interventions that boost morale, productivity, and employee retention.

I'm at the point where it's time to market my product. Instead of casting a wide net, I aim to focus on a specific niche that could benefit from this tool to make marketing easier. My wife, who works in the education sector, believes that educational institutions, particularly those emphasising well-being, would find great value in this product. Given that the Further Education (FE) & Higher Education (HE) sector in the UK employs over 400,000 staff, the market size is encouraging (excluding schools and private training providers).

However, my hesitation stems from my limited familiarity with the educational sector, especially public institutions, which often operate on tight budgets. Additionally, the complex approval processes at universities could pose significant sales challenges. My limited understanding leads me to believe that financial decision making in Schools and Colleges may be an easier process, but I'm unsure.

Private training organisations are another potential avenue. There's over 12,000 of them in the UK, but only 5% of them employee enough staff for my product to be beneficial to them (I think).

So, my question to the forum is: How difficult is it to sell a SaaS product to UK education providers. Do you need to be registered on some sort of approved provider register? Is it best to avoid Universities to begin with and focus and Schools, Colleges and Private providers assuming that there are less layers to jump through?

I believe it would be very difficult, from previous work in your industry, marketing products and generating leads was very difficult. I also think the SaaS industry is expanding and people are releasing new things all the time, so there will be a lot of competition.

I would phone the institutions, offer free trials, and be personable. Make yourself stand out.